February is Black History Month, and we highlight the contributions Black people of all genders and nationalities have made to mathematics. Every person exists at the intersection of their gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, and other factors of their identity. With this in mind, we encourage you to visit the other pages at the SABES site that celebrate aspects of identity and read about the Black people celebrated on those pages too. You’ll find them at the SABES Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Math page. You also might want to check out this set of mathematician profile cards that includes 19 biographies of important mathematicians from around the world, including several mathematicians of color. 

In this video, learn about the history of Black History Month (5:49)

DATA

• Even as Colleges Pledge To Improve, the Share of Engineering and Math Graduates Who Are Black Declines—Article by Hechinger Report
• Black Americans’ Views of Education and Professional Opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Article by Pew Research Center
• Why STEM Equity Must Address the Experiences of Women of Color—Article by The Education Trust
• White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans Fact Sheet: Supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Success Among African American Students
• The Slow Reveal Graphs website provides a format for mathematical discussions of issues related to social justice. The website has many classroom-ready graphs related to Black history and the Black experience. Examples include Americans’ Familiarity with Juneteenth, Food Insecurity by Racial/Cultural Identity and Indigenous Status, Life Expectancy for White and Black Americans, and Who Gets Arrested for Fare Evasion on the MTA.

WHO DOES MATH

• Great Achievements in Science and Technology in Ancient Africa—People of African descent come from ancient, rich, and elaborate cultures that created a wealth of technologies in many areas. Hopefully, over time, there will be more studies in this area and more people will know of these great achievements.

• Sona Patterns - Revisiting the Contributions of the People in Sub-Saharan Africa to Modern Mathematics—This article describes what Sona Patterns are, the history of Sona Geometry and its impact on science today. Readers are also invited to create Sona patterns of their own. A sampling of Sona patterns created on Pinterest is included.

• Through the Window and Into the Mirror: Narratives of African American STEM Professionals—A video career conversation series sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

• 10 Black Innovators Who Have Made an Impact in STEM—This site is Engineering for Kids that has multiple resources for implementing STEM at home and school, reading STEM focused articles, as well as locating summer camps.

• Black Women Scientists Who Are Trailblazers in STEM—Though often overlooked, Black women scientists have made huge contributions to their fields. This one-minute video showcases a few of these STEM contributors.

• 17 Black Scientists, Engineers, and Leaders in STEM—Of the 17 STEM leaders mentioned, some have links leading to more detailed information about the person and/or their contribution to STEM. This site also sells STEM kits for children at various ages.

• Meet 7 Groundbreaking Black Scientists From the Past—From the first treatment for leprosy to the foundation of the global positioning system, Black scientists have long been involved in major scientific developments, despite being pushed to the margins, refused jobs, and denied credit for their discoveries.

• 10 Black Innovators Who Changed the Gaming Industry—Within the United States, over 428,000 jobs are in the industry; however, only 2% of those job holders are Black. Those dismal numbers are disheartening when you consider the contributions that Black people have made within the gaming industry’s history as well as the present. This lucrative world wouldn’t be what it is today without the work of Black innovators within the industry. Whether it is in manufacturing or overall design, some of your favorite video games wouldn’t exist without the efforts of talented Black gaming professionals.

• Star Chasers of Senegal—In Senegal, West Africa, a team of scientists sets out to capture extraordinarily precise observations vital to the success of NASA's Lucy mission.
• Derek Peterson: Founder/CEO of Soter Technologies
  • Technology: Inventing Products to Help Kids Stay Safe—In this video, Peterson explains how being a victim of childhood bullying influenced his work in creating products that keep children safe.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson: Astrophysicist, lecturer, author, and public figure
  • StarTalk Podcast Network—This includes a variety of science-related podcasts hosted by deGrasse Tyson
  • The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers—In this short video, deGrasse Tyson talks about how his love of astronomy was born.
• Lonnie Johnson: Scientist and inventor 
  • The Future of Invention—In this Google Talk, Dr. Johnson speaks about how his interest in STEM was spurred in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, by his supportive parents (despite kitchen experiments gone awry), and his work. He works with youth to build a sustaining interest in STEM among people of color.
• Bob Moses: Civil Rights Leader and founder of The Algebra Project

The movie Hidden Figures portrays three Black women who were among many hired by NASA as “human computers” to support the space program in the days when all the computations necessary to send astronauts to space and bring them safely home had to be done by hand. These women were educated and skilled and did important and difficult work under conditions of segregation and broader racism and sexism. The movie gives the women’s stories a Hollywood treatment, but more accurate information about these women can be found here:

• Katherine Johnson
• Mary Jackson
• Dorothy Vaughan

MATH ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

• 60+ Free STEM Resources and Opportunities for BIPOC, AAPIs, and Allies—This site from Columbia Engineering supports many groups of color with its well organized links to targeted resources. From its information about available scholarships, to historical background of trailblazers, to lessons/activities that can be used in the classroom, Columbia Engineering’s webpage is worth a peek.

• Egyptian Number System—An explanation of Egypt’s historical interaction with numbers dating back to the time of the pyramids.

• Old Egyptian Math Cats: Fractions—Students can practice creating fractions like Ancient Egyptians in this online activity. Once used, the same fraction cannot be used again to complete the whole. The included graphic tool helps them visualize the goal.

• A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Toolkit—The toolkit includes resources created to help math teachers develop an anti-racist math practice.

• Toolkit for "Mathematics in Context: The Pedagogy of Liberation"—This companion guide to the article of the same name can help teachers think about how to humanize math in our own classrooms.

• Disproportionate Incarceration—This unit develops graphing and proportional reasoning skills using social justice contexts.

• Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaborative network of researchers investigating implicit social cognition (thoughts and feelings that are largely outside of conscious awareness and control). Data is available on the implicit biases of Americans regarding race as well as many other topics. Here are some ideas for using the implicit association test developed by Project Implicit in math class.